Do you see problems with this system? Plus hard drive question.

mschude

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2009
10
0
18,510
It's been many years since I tried building my own PC. I just purchased all my new parts from Newegg.com and I should have them in a few days. My goal is to create a system that will last me a long time since my current PC is a Pentium4 w/ 3+ghz. I do a lot of photoshop and multi tasking. Can I please get some feedback if you think the components below will work well together and If I should be happy with the results.

I also need some advice on my Hard drive application. I wanted to have a fast hard drive so I purchased the Western Digital Velociraptor 10000 rpm with 300GB. I know that this is a small drive so I will need more space for my files. I was thinking of adding a second 1TB hard drive for all my files and run my Operating system and programs from the Velociraptor drive. If I do this, am I defeating the purpose of having a fast drive or will the larger 1tb open my files quick enough. What is the best way to run 2 separate hard drives? Thank you for your help...

Here is what I have purchased from Newegg.com


CASE: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

PROCESSOR:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz

MEMORY: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D - Retail

BOARD: EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

POWER: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

CD BURNER:
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Thanks for everyone's help!
 

mighty442

Distinguished
Dec 11, 2008
93
0
18,630
Why not just buy another Velociraptor and run it in raid 0? That will give the space and speed. On your current setup your programs will load up fast since they are on the Velociraptor and your documents will load up slower if you are storing it on the 1TB drive. It shouldn't effect you to much since your overall system is quite fast. What did you end up getting for a video card? For that size case I'm hoping it's something big or the case would of been overkill for you.
 

mschude

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2009
10
0
18,510
I guess I really don't understand how raid works? Is it difficult to set up? Doesn't raid split information over 2 drives? If one drive goes bad will I be screwed?

Currently the case is over kill but I wanted to get a decent base system with the funds I currently have and then build upon the system over the next few months. The video card I use now is nothing great. It's a Nvidia Geforce 8600 Gt. I have dual 22" inch monitors and i have not been doing any gaming on my PC since it's pretty old. I hope to start playing after my PC is built.
 

alcattle

Distinguished
Jan 25, 2007
1,831
0
19,780
There are several types of RAID setups. The one Mighty442 suggested split the reads/writes between two drives for speedier access. Yes the risk of losing data is higher with RAID. The Raptor is plenty fast to load OS and Photoshop. You need a big drive or two to store your work. You could also make a RAID for Storage, using 3 drives mirrored so if one fails, you do not lose data. Myself, I just go simple, one for OS and one for data.
 

mschude

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2009
10
0
18,510
I think I might just go the easy route and use one drive for the OS and the other for date like alcattle suggested. Would this drive be a good option for a second drive to go with my velociraptor?

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Thanks for the response Alcattle.